Gate Crasher or birthday present?

Home birth can be about fitting into the rhythm of life and welcoming this new person into the family without disturbing that rhythm. I was at a birth a couple of weeks ago where this was high lighted.

Kate was expecting her 4th baby. We were not expecting her to call as a scan had advised leaving the dates where they were even though the baby looked about 10 days older. We were not 100% organised .

Kate had her 5 year olds birthday party that day. It was delayed a week to accommodate his friends. I got a call from Kate saying she was having awfully strong braxton hicks and it was becoming difficult to ice the cake. She timed them and called back a short time later to say they were three minutes apart. Bang went my plans for the movies.

When I got there the birthday party was in full swing. I suggested we did an examination so we could plan what to do ie get parents to come rather fast or carry on . 7cm! We thought the baby would be here within a couple of hours and Kate thought she could continue and finish the party.

Kate had the children’s tea on the table in short order, a little earlier than planned. She was very calm, pausing every now and again to breathe through a contraction. The children were told that the baby would be born that night and they carried on with their excited chatter. While the children were eating we organised towels, water proof floor coverings and baby clothes. Then out came this amazing volcano cake, all iced. We all sang happy birthday, ate cake and arranged for the visiting children to be collected. Kate continued to quietly stop and breathe through a contraction.

The visiting children were collected one and half hours after I arrived at the house. Kate’s husband needed to carry on with the family business ,4 – 6pm being their busy time. One of the visiting children’s Mum stayed to help tidy toys away so Kate could have space to birth her baby. Michael came in, Kate’s contractions picked up to the ouchy stage . Kate told her children these were sore and she needed to concentrate on them and they needed to be quiet. And quiet they were. Half an hour later Kate was pushing. She was leaning against the couch bottom facing the fire. The cats were asleep in front of the fire guard and the dog and two children were sat between the fire and Kate quietly watching what was going on, not fazed at all . The baby was born, caught by his Dad. The 5 year old helped get the warm towels and Kate moved up on to the couch so her baby could have skin to skin time. What a calm atmosphere it all was. I wished I had a camera to photograph the scene.

Once the baby was born the children came close to see their new brother and the dog came for a lick. Two hours later the baby had had a feed, the children had some more party food, played with some toys and it was time for bed. While Kate organised herself for a shower she had the children getting ready for bed with teeth cleaning etc. She then sat them down for bed time story while Michael held his son and then Michael tucked them into bed. I tidied up, (as our hope after a birth is not to leave a lot of evidence that a birth has taken place at the house apart from a happy family with a new baby) and and left the house . Kate & Michael were getting ready to go to bed with their new addition.